Monday, June 27, 2011

Under this sunday morning skywere standing Sylvester and MrSweetPants, I imagine they were enjoying the silence, the heat, the Sunday. For those who might not know, MrSweetPants is Augustus the cat.The downward glance directed toward MrSweetPants told me that something was about to happen, we cannot have silence for too long. (I do understand of course because MrSweetPants is so irresistable.)A little peckturned into a love biteand a fussy meow from fussy gussy.Oh, what a babe!Meanwhile in the urban thicketwas resting this lion, silently roaring in his forest of detachment.He could bear no more and had to come see for himself.I had to come up with something, a reading, a dance, a song, a story, these inquisitive minds were asking...and so I found in the Rumi book this:

The Lion who Hunted with the Wolf and the Fox.A lion took a wolf and a fox with him on a hunting excursion, and succeeded in catching a wild ox, an ibex, and a hare. He then directed the wolf to divide the prey. The wolf proposed to award the ox to the lion, the ibex to himself, and the hare to the fox. The lion was enraged with the wolf because he had presumed to talk of "I" and "Thou," and "My share" and "Thy share" when it all belonged of right to the lion, and he slew the wolf with one blow of his paw. Then, turning to the fox, he ordered him to make the division. The fox, rendered wary by the fate of the wolf, replied that the whole should be the portion of the lion. The lion, pleased with his self-abnegation, gave it all up to him, saying, "Thou art no longer a fox, but myself."

Till man destroys "self" he is no true friend of God. (Rumi)

Content, the cat boys listened, purred, and prepared pawfuls of kisses that were blown in the air for those in need of kisses.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

el senor Puffy Pantalones to say hiand so he did.Here is El Senor Puffy Pantalones who prefers to be outdoors, so terrible to have to come in for 2 seconds.I gave him 99 kisses to make up for his efforts.El Senor Dulce Pantalones was exploring a balcony. Up,up,and hello.We sat together briefly for a chat and a reflection...

"O BEFRIENDED STRANGER!

The candle of thine heart is lighted by the hand of My power, quench it not with the contrary winds of self and passion. The healer of all thine ills is remembrance of Me, forget it not. Make My love thy treasure and cherish it even as thy very sight and life."

(Hidden Words)

Utterly relaxed though they were, los dos senores still did not hesitate to send out summery kisses.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

is the thought that came to our minds, the three of us, as we relaxed in each other's presence.Augustus obliged, and hung around for a while, sending a look this way and one the other.Ollie had found the right spot in the humble disorderly grass of our disorderly backyard.Ahh, look at that glance! I felt the strong urge to give him 199 kisses but did not want to disturb his peace.Since his grand words in the last blog post I thought that perhaps I should call him Confucius. I will be thinking about that.Just to test him and to make sure that this outpouring of genius was not accidental I decided to ask his opinion on another profound topic- that of powe

I told him that I knew what the contemporary understanding of power was- it is a zero sum game in which the power of one side is derived at the expense of another.

I wanted to know what was his spiritual understanding of power.

He was startled yet prepared!He said that power was a force that was infused into a relationship or emerges therefrom once there was harmony within, such as the power of love.

Then he quoted an eastern spiritual teacher on this topic:

"In the world of existence there is indeed no greater power than the power of love for when the heart of man in aglow with the flame of love, he is ready to sacrifice all-even his life." (Abdul-Baha in Promulgation of Universal Peace?)

I felt quite amazed but I had to conceal my emotions of pride and love, just making sure it does not go to his head.

You may think from all the Ollie photos that I am biased towards him, over Augustu

I assure you that that is not the case. On this particular morning Augustus was flying left and right and I could not take any more pictures or chat with him longer!!!

The two cat boys eventually gathered for kiss-blowing, paws were filled juicy kisses and sprinkled on top with best wishes, and they blew them out for their friend

Monday, June 13, 2011

there is clarity. We look up at the blue skies, what a change from the dreary morning...clarity.I noticed that Augustus wanted to sit and chat, he was in that sort of a mood.Then I saw Ollie, and detected that he was in a similar mood, reflecting, meditative. Not know quite what to discuss I ask Ollie what he thought we should be striving for, a difficult question for a normal cat.He scratched his head before talking, and I was sure that he would say something related to expanding the farming of tuna and salmon, or installation of more bird feeders in the yard.Ollie came up with this list of things we three should be striving for:

"the worthy service of unifying mankind","investigating reality and promulgating international peace", "progress and development of humanity", "spreading and proclaiming true education", "expression of love towards your fellow creatures", "the removal of prejudice", "blend together human hearts and give light to the human world"

... (Promulgation of Universal Peace 334)

"Whoa", I said.

I could not contain my amazement but Gussy who trusts the inner abilities of his puffy-pant-wearing brother did not flinch. He was just enjoying hearing these thoughts.

He assumed his usual reflection posture,and then started making kisses for everyone. This is what he could do today.They sent off kisses and their best wishes for a lovely week for all of their friends. Enjoy!

Friday, June 10, 2011

Today is commencement ceremonies at Caltech. I am in my office. The day is unseasonably cool and gloomy, to me that is. Earlier this morning, 5:30 or so, it was equally overcast but cat boys like overcast skies with cool temperatures. It stimulates them, and that is all fine; however, it makes it difficult to get them to sit and listen.

I wanted to tell them more about the talk...creativity, practice, all that good stuff.

Ollie was trying to hide himself, he is always sure that we cannot see him.Gussy was wondering how a furry ginger cat could camouflage himself in a green setting."Nope, I can still see you", he meowed to Ollie.Ollie decided to give in. Next time perhaps he will try to camouflage amongst orange leaves.Augustus preparing to listen.Augustus listening intently."..God has given man the eye of investigation by which he may see and recognize truth. He has endowed man with ears that he may hear the message of reality and conferred upon him the gift of reason by which he may discover things for himself. This is his endowment and equipment for the investigation of reality. Man is not intended to see through the eyes of another, hear through another's ears nor comprehend with another's brain. Each human creature has individual endowment, power and responsibility in the creative plan of God; therefore depend on your own investigation..."Promulgation of Universal Peace, 292

My teacher friend firmly believes that each of her students is capable of creatively expressing themselves, and each has that endowment, which allows them to do so.

The cat boys agreed wholeheartedly, theirs is always an authentic investigation, never through the eyes of another. I asked for kisses and kisses they prepared and blew in the air wishing all a grand weekend.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Last night I went to hear my teacher friend talk. She teaches creativity, child development and curriculum development at a school in Long Beach. She was going to talk about "Practice". When I returned home I called the curious cat boys who always want to know everything to sit in the courtyard so I could tell them about this talk.

I called out for Gussy..."Gussy, where is my Gussy?""Gustopher""Come on SweetPants...come to the courtyard."Ollie was already in the courtyard...taken over by catnip perhaps.When I called for PuffyPants, he just rolled around."You called me", he said."Yup, I called you, angel breath!"...notice his ears change position, he is so talented.I asked them to assume a posture of learning and this is what we got...

I shared one quote from the handout my friend had prepared:

"O Jalal! Upon thee be My glory! We commend the friends of the true One to good deeds perchance they may succeed and act in accord with that which hath been revealed from the heaven of command. The benefit of the utterance of the merciful One goes to those who practice. We beg of God to strengthen them in that which He loveth and approveth, to enable them to act with justice and equity in this irrefutable command, to make known unto them His signs and to direct them unto His right path." (BWF-202)

We three liked the idea of practicing good deeds, and if we did not succeed, we would practice again.

At this point I noticed that Ollie was looking at Gussy like this:

I think he wondered if he and Augustus were listening to the same reading.Yes? No? Perhaps?The precious cat boys did not waste any time, they filled their paws with kisses and blew them in the air for their friends, that was one of their good deeds for the day.